4/23/13

This smart new ‘bar de tapas’ is located on the mezzanine
level of a new but characterless mall in Santa Fe, overlooking a pretty
landscaped garden. It offers Spanish
classics well done: croquetas those
perfect little béchamel balls, are crunchy out/creamy in and served with
pleasantly mild ali-oli. We’ve never
seen, in Mexico, the little skewered gildas,
named after Rita Hayworth’s character in the eponymous film.

And callo con romesco
y velo de azafrán is a minimally cooked scallop that sits proudly on a
dollop of smoky/tangy hazelnut-thickened sauce from Catalonia and is worth the
trip to this un-loved part of town.

Capote

Álvaro Obregón 179, Colonia Roma
Tel. 5511-0429

Tapeando at Capote

Open: Tuesday- Sunday: 2 p.m.-2 a.m.

$$

Pedro Martín, the Canarian chef once of Tezka and other
high-falutin’ D.F. venues has opened an unpretentiously cool bar at the end of
Alvaro Obregón with a few tables in and out (which are these days quite difficult
to procure). The menu is all tapas, simple-to-complex little dishes, reasonably priced meant to be
shared and accompanied by wine from the wallet-friendly list. Service,
however, tends to range from perfunctory to downright rude, a rarity in this
town of smiling hospitality.

A new venue for interesting ‘Alta Cocina Mexicana’ offers two tasting menus based on local artisanal and seasonal products. Dishes can be shared or one can take advantage of the tasting menu. The eight course mega is a bit too much even for this glutton – go for the six.

4/10/13

Máximo
Bistrot Local opened its doors at the beginning of 2012, and
quickly became the hottest place in Mexico City. It’s an unpretentious
European-style bistro in the once opulent Colonia Roma neighborhood,
which is in the midst of a redevelopment boom. Cool and chic Máximo replaces a
dowdy medical supply store; once a trash-strewn corner with little foot traffic
is now a well-known gastronomic destination. You can find the
best brandade de morue this side of the Seine here. Or a
classic ceviche. While Mexico-born chef and owner Eduardo García likes rustic French cooking,
his feet are firmly planted on native ground, and he often includes typical
Mexican ingredients such as chilies, hot and mild; cuitlacoche, the rich
corn fungus known as “Mexican truffle”; or country herbs like epazote in his
dishes.

The chef formerly worked under Enrique Olvera of Pujol, the
esteemed local palace of experimental gastronomy, and also toiled in
Manhattan’s star-strewn Le Bernardín where seafood reigns.

García represents the new generation of Mexican cooks who,
while well aware of what’s going on in Spain, California and New York, have
come back home, incorporating these ideas into their native cuisine.

Eduardo García puts ‘local’ in Máximo Bistrot Local

The chef has brought expert gastronomic skills to his own
place, opened on a shoestring and run with his wife, the affable Gabriela, who
acts as host. Máximo
Bistrot Local’s publicity claims thatmateria prima is
local and organic, if possible. The chef visits the city’s spectacular markets
daily, choosing what looks best, then adroitly improvising a new menu each day.
The food coming out of his kitchen is worthy of hyperbole.

How is what you cook related to classic Mexican cuisine?

Our menu is based not only on Mexican cuisine, but also on
local ingredients — hence the name “bistro local.” But I like to include a few
“authentic” dishes. The relationship between my cuisine and Mexican cooking is
all about ingredients, methods and philosophy. I think my growing up in Mexico
and having trained here infuses everything I do. For example, I often take
advantage of the huge variety of chilies used in our cooking, and the
specifically Mexican ways of preparing them, such as toasting and grinding.

And to classic European cooking?

I wouldn’t say “classic European” but French and rustic
Italian. Again, the methods are a big part of the relationship. I take what I
consider to be the best techniques from the aforementioned European traditions.

What are the advantages of running a restaurant in Mexico
City?

In the city, purveyors are more focused than in other parts
of Mexico. We’re in the middle of the country and everything is available here;
I can get seafood from either coast hours after it is caught.

the provinces — Mexicans tend to be conventional when it
comes to food.

What’s coming up on your menu?

I’m planning a trip to visit small restaurants in Europe to
get more inspiration for my menu. I’m more interested in experiencing local,
time-honored cooking than the avant-garde stuff.

What is you latest ingredient obsession?

Fresh seafood from Ensenada. There are extraordinary
ingredients there. Percebes, for example, are barnacles not well-known
outside of Spain, where they cost a fortune. Here they are accessible and I’ve
been experimenting with them: I included them in a ceviche recently.

What is your favorite restaurant/chef in town?

I don’t hang out much with the “top” chefs or at fancy
restaurants. My favorite place is Fonda Las Margaritas in Colonia Del Valle [a
quiet residential neighborhood south of the center]. It’s where I like to eat
on my day off. It’s a simple old-fashioned neighborhood fonda that
does really authentic no-frills Mexican food.

The culinary scene here is expanding, as are people’s
palates. I think that Mexico City is becoming one of the top destinations for
food. New restaurants as well as old established ones are using more fresh and
local products. And that’s a real good thing.

And what are your life plans?

I’ve been offered jobs here and abroad, book deals, even a
TV show! I’ve turned them all down. Because I just don’t have time to do
anything but cook, and make sure everything in my place is the best it can be. I’ve seen some of my contemporaries fall prey to the “star
chef” phenomena — and their restaurants suffer for this. You can’t be a star
and maintain a great kitchen unless it is established and you are able to train
younger chefs to be as good as you. I know I’m not there yet. We’re doing
amazingly well, are always full and now have sidewalk rights so a few more
tables. But it’s very hard work, six days a week, exhausting. I hope I can keep
it up.

4/4/13

"It's not Italian" I muttered, as I nodded in assent against my better judgement, not wishing to go against the grain. We were ordering for my birthday dinner at what's just about my favorite restaurant in the world.

Ajo blanco, or white gazpacho is a traditional alternative to the better known red gazpacho. It's ubiquitous in the south of Spain, Andalucia to be more precise, during the warm months. A soup cool in every way, it's as good as the sum of its ingredients, and the balancing skills of its maker. Olive oil, pulverized almonds, vinegar, garlic, perhaps a little bread are whipped into a smooth cream and served over green grapes.

The warm months have arrived in Mexico City, dry dusty desert-like days will be upon us until the rains come. So, yes, a cold soup is a good idea.

It arrived after squash blossom flowers which were fried so light they seemed to levitate off the plate like little cumulous clouds.

The soup was textbook perfect. The balance between sweet, salty, tart and umami was 3 star Michelin.

But Rosetta specializes in regional Italian fare, not southern Spanish. I asked the brilliant chef Elena Reygadas why, why she did it. "My Spanish grandmother made it and when the weather turns warm I get nostalgic - and there just aren't so many cold Italian soups I like." Chef Reygadas' touch is to add a little green apple and tarragon. So the soup is her own. Any Italian would approve.